Huysmans in America: Against the Grain and Down There
If the situation regarding the Fortune Press and Groves & Michaux editions of Huysmans' novels seems complicated, it is nothing compared to the confusion of editions in America. If one looks at secondhand bookselling sites, one can find American editions of Against the Grain and Down There from a whole slew of publishers — Lieber & Lewis, Albert & Charles Boni, the Illustrated Book Company, Three Sirens Press, Bonibooks, Hartsdale House, the Modern Library, and Black Archer Press. So which edition came first, and what was the connection between the original editions and those that appeared subsequently? Which translations did they use? And were these all legitimate editions or were some of them pirated? This is an illustrated guide to the various editions available, and the differences between them.
Against the Grain
New York: Lieber & Lewis, 1922.
Size: 5.75 x 8.25 inches
Pages: 331
Binding: Black cloth with gilt lettering stamped on spine and front
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Lieber & Lewis were a short-lived publishing house that specialised in translations from the French. Set up in 1922 by Maxim Lieber (1897-1993) and Jacob Howard Lewis, Lieber & Lewis published thirteen titles before being sold to Albert & Charles Boni in December 1923. The translation of Against the Grain is credited to 'John Howard', the pseudonym of Jacob Howard Lewis. The translation was abridged, cutting out the preface, the whole of chapter six, and a part of chapter nine, but it was copyrighted in 1922, which is why subsequent editions of the book by different publishers include the 1922 date and an attribution to Lieber & Lewis.
Against the Grain was first announced sometime in 1922, and an advertisement in the 29 July issue of Publishers' Weekly touting pre-orders claimed that demand for the book was high, and that the book would be published on 1 September. It's possible that the book took slightly longer to prepare — an announcement in the 3 September issue of the New York Times Review of Books stated that the book would be published 'in the Fall', and the Catalog of Copyright Entries for 1922 gives 30 September as the publication date.
 |
 |
The Lieber & Lewis edition included a frontispiece by Odilon Redon and an introduction by Havelock Ellis. This latter was not written specially for the edition, but is an abbreviated version of an analysis of Huysmans' work which Ellis first published in a book of essays, Affirmations, in 1898. The book was priced at $3, and advertised again in the 23 September issue of Publishers' Weekly, where it was promised that it would be 'an intellectual orgy to those who seek intoxication in the pages of a book'. An advertisment that appeared in The Nation in October was slightly more restrained, calling the novel 'possibly the finest example of the French school of Symbolistes'. Howard's translation would become the text used for all the subsequent American editions of Against the Grain, and is still available today, published by Dover Books.
 |
 |
The book features a text-based dustjacket, as many Lieber & Lewis titles did, which includes an extract from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray that describes the profound and distrubring effect on Gray of a decadent book which many people take to be Huysmans' classic novel of 1884 A rebours. Copies in a dustjacket are now very scarce.
If one looks at the copyright page of the later A & C Boni edition of Against the Grain, published in 1924, it is reasonable to assume that the Lieber & Lewis published a 'second edition' or rather reprinted the book. In late 1923, the Boni brothers had bought Lieber & Lewis and its stock, and when they produced their own edition of Against the Grain in March 1924 — effectively a reprint of the Lieber edition but with a new title page and rebound in a new cover — they also, somewhat confusingly, included the dates of the previous Lieber editions or reprints on the copyright page i.e the first Lieber edition is dated October 1922, and the second Lieber edition or reprint is dated March 1923.
Against the Grain
New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1924.
Size: 5.5 x 8.25 inches
Pages: 331
Binding: Dark blue cloth, gilt stamped on spine
A & C Boni First edition
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
A & C Boni Second edition
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The history of Albert & Charles Boni is a somewhat convoluted one. Initially started as a bookshop in Greenwich Village in 1913 by the twenty-one year old Albert Boni (1892-1981) and his younger brother, Charles (1894-1969), the firm of Albert & Charles Boni began publishing works of modern literature and left-wing politics. This venture lasted only a few years, however, and in 1917, Albert Boni and Horace Liveright incorporated the publishing house Boni & Liveright, aided by the financial backing of Horace Liveright's father-in-law, the paper executive Herman Elsas. A year and a half later, following disagreements between the two men, a coin was flipped to see who would run the firm, and Boni, having lost, sold his share to Liveright, who retained the name Boni & Liveright until 1928, when it was changed to Horace Liveright, Inc. During their short-lived partnership Boni & Liveright established the Modern Library imprint, which promoted translations of European writers, particularly those who embodied the new artistic and intellectual currents that were transforming European literature.
The Boni brothers' takeover of the firm Lieber & Lewis was reported in the 15 December 1923 issue of Publishers' Weekly, and in the New York Times Review of Books the following day. For the first few months of the takeover, the new firm, again called Albert & Charles Boni, operated out of Lieber & Lewis' former address at 19 Barrow Street, New York.
 |
 |
The first mention of a Boni edition of Against the Grain appears in an advertisement for another Huysmans' book, Down There, which appeared in the 8 March 1924 issue of Publishers' Weekly. No details of Against the Grain were given as such, just that it would be in a uniform edition with Down There, and would sell for $3.00, as compared to $2.50 for the latter. It is clear that both books were acquired along with the rest of the Lieber & Lewis stock, as Down There was listed as a forthcoming title from the firm in 1923, before its acquisition by the Bonis (see below).
The copyright page of the first Boni edition of Against the Grain is very confusing and has led to a number of incorrect attributions as to its date, and which edition is which. Essentially, the confusion stems from the fact that the Bonis included the publishing details of the Lieber & Lewis 'editions' on the copyright page of their new edition. To make matters worse they used the word 'edition' to refer both to separate editions produced by different publishers, as well as to what would otherwise be referred to as an additional printing or a reprint. The copyright page of the Boni first edition therefore gives Lieber & Lewis as the copyright holder and the date as 1922 at the top of the page, and then underneath lists two dates — October 1922 and March 1923 — with the former being the date of the Lieber first edition and the latter being the date of a reprint issued before Lieber & Lewis were bought out by the Bonis in December 1923. To add to the confusion, the date of the actual Boni first edition — 1924 — is not given on the copyright page, only on the title page. This has led some booksellers to the reasonable, but mistaken, assumption that the first A & C Boni edition is actually the 'third' edition: reasonable because the copyright page gives the dates of two other previous 'editions', but mistaken in that these two dates refer to the Lieber & Lewis edition, not the book produced by A & C Boni. It was only in the subsequent reprint, or 'edition' to use Boni's word, in June 1926, that the date of the first Boni edition — February 1924 — was added to the copyright page. Therefore, using Boni's classification, the first Boni edition — given as the 'third edition' on the 1926 copyright page — appeared in February 1924, and the second Boni edition, technically a second printing, produced in 1926, is described as the fourth edition, both on the dustjacket and on the copyright page. Little wonder, given this confusion of terms and terminology, that so many people mistake which edition is which. It is technically possible to argue that since Boni bought out Lieber & Lewis, the Boni editions were effectively successive iterations of the Lieber & Lewis edition, but this method of listing reprints as editions seems unnecessarily confusing — most people would consider a book produced by a different publishing house to be a completely new and separate edition to one issued by a previous publisher, even if it was produced from the sheets of that publisher. Boni may have bought Lieber & Lewis and its stock, but it was a completely different publishing house, so their edition of the books they produced should be treated completely separately. Interestingly, even though the second Boni 'edition' of 1926 still refers to 'editions' on the copyright page, the spine of the dustjacket describes it as a 'Fourth Printing', and later Boni books would drop the term 'edition' when giving dates of reprints and also use the more correct term 'printing'.
Despite the publication date of the Boni first edition being given as February 1924, in fact the book seems to have been published only at the end of September. It may be that the book was actually printed in February but held back from sale, either because of their decision to publish Down There first, or perhaps because they still had copies of the Lieber & Lewis edition which they wanted to sell. Whatever the reason, the firm advertised Down There rather than Against the Grain as the lead title in their 'first season' list for 1924.
 |
Another possible explanation for the delay in publishing Against the Grain was the surprise news regarding Down There in April 1924, just a month after the book's appearance. As reported in the 19 April 1924 issue of Publishers' Weekly, the Boni edition of Down There had to be withdrawn from sale, following a complaint by the Society for the Suppression of Vice. Given the financial impact that such a suppression would have, especially on a new publishing house, it would not be surprising if Boni decided to delay the publication of another controversial book by an author whose work had attracted the scrutiny of the censors, rather than risking another costly withdrawal or even prosecution for publishing obscene material. This might also explain why Boni seemed to take a fairly low key approach to their new edition of Against the Grain — there were no advertisements in the trade press as there had been for Down There — and indeed when it was announced in the 20 September 1924 issue of Publishers' Weekly, it was simply described as a 'reissue', as if to emphasise the fact that it was simply a reprint of a book that had already been published without complaint. Indeed, this may account for the Boni decision to include the Lieber & Lewis editions on their copyright page, effectively giving the impression that the book had been in print since 1922 and therefore unrelated to the obscenity accusations against Down There.
 |
From the dates of the 'editions' listed on the copyright page, it would appear that while the Lieber edition had sold relatively quickly, going into a second printing six months after the first, the Boni edition had a more restrained sale, only going into a 'second' edition (listed as the fourth edition on the copyright page) in June 1926, nearly two and a half years after the first Boni edition of February 1924.
As noted above, the Boni edition was the same size, format and pagination as the previous Lieber & Lewis edition, indeed the text block is identical in the two books, though it omits the illustrated frontispiece. The only other differences between the two editions is that the Boni edition has a different title page, a different binding and a slightly amended and adapted dustjacket. This was fairly standard practice in cases where one publisher acquired the stock of another: the Fortune Press used Groves & Michaux's printed sheets of Against the Grain and Down There for their editions of 1930 and 1931 after they acquired the French firm's stock, and bound them up with a new title page. In some instances, where the Lieber & Lewis editions were already completely bound, Boni simply printed a new title page and inserted it loosely into the existing book.
Tnere are only very minor differences between the first and second Boni 'editions' of Against the Grain, aside from the copyright page: the dustjacket of the first edition is a similar orange to the Lieber & Lewis first edition, while the second Boni edition (or reprint) prints the dustjacket on grey paper; and the title page of the first edition lacks Boni's logo of Pan playing his pipe just above the firm's name and the book's original date of publication.
Against the Grain
New York: Bonibooks, 1930.
Size: 5 x 7.25 inches
Pages: 331
Binding: Paperbound in red, yellow and blue
Paperback: 1st printing September 1930
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Paperback 2nd printing October 1930
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Paperback 3rd printing February 1931
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Example of third edition of 1931 with slipcase
 |
 |
Like many companies during the late 1920s, the firm of Albert & Charles Boni suffered as a result of the stock market crash in 1929 and the subsequent economic depression. Perhaps in an effort to attract new readers, in 1929 the Boni brothers created the imprint "Bonibooks", a series of paperbacks costing 50 cents. Against the Grain appeared in paperback in 1930 and seems to have sold well, going into three printings in quick succession, with each printing appearing in a different colour jacket and endpapers. The last printing is dated February 1931. Some of the later editions were sold in slipcases, which also utilised the book's cover design.
 |
 |
Although the text of the novel and the page extent of the Bonibooks edition is identical to the earler Boni edition of 1924, the decorative drop caps have been replaced by simple capital letters, and the elaborate chapter heading blocks have been removed. The text of the introduction by Havelock Ellis has been reset, though otherwise it is the same abbreviated version used in the first edition and the Lieber & Lewis edition. The Bonibooks paperback does however feature what is perhaps the most striking cover of any edition of Against the Grain, a stylish and stylised illustration by Vera Bock, which was also used, in a slightly different form, for the dustjacket of the hardback edition that was published a year later in 1931.
Example of special order cloth covered edition, 1930
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Unusually, the Bonibooks paperback editions had the option of being ordered, on request, in a hardcover binding. These were bound in blue cloth, with the title and author name stamped on the spine, an illustration on the front board, and the same red patterned front and back end papers as the 1930 first print run of the Bonibooks paperback. This hardback is quite a bit smaller than either the first Boni edition of 1924, or the Bonibooks hardback edition of 1931, and at 5.25 x 7.625 inches is practically the same size as the paperback. It's unclear how many books were sold this way. Given the attractive nature of the paperback's cover illustration, these hardbacks seem plain by comparison, but as all the Bonibooks sold in this cloth format, irrespective of their author or book title, feature the same illustration on the front board (which also appears as the Boni ident on the title page), it is logical to assume that libraries, which needed a more durable cover, were the target audience. In any case none of these cloth versions seem to have been issued with a dustjacket.
Against the Grain
New York: Bonibooks, [1931].
Size: 5.5 x 8.25 inches
Pages: 331
Binding: Bound in light purple cloth, stamped with silver lettering on the spine and front.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This hardback is perhaps the most confusing of the present editions because it retains the Lieber & Lewis copyright date of 1922 on the copyright page, and doesn't include its actual date of publication, either on the title page or elsewhere. This has led to some booksellers listing this as an edition from 1922 rather than 1931. This mistake is perpetuated even by seemingly reputable booksellers, such as Jay W. Nelson in Austin, USA, who despite being repeatedly told that he has misdated the book he is trying to sell persists in mistakenly telling his customers that it is an edition from 1922. Clearly some booksellers don't respect their customers enough to provide them with accurate information about the books they want them to buy.
Although it is clear the Bonibooks hardback edition cannot date to 1922, pinning down its actual date of publication is difficult but not impossible. We know that the hardback must have appeared after the paperback edition, rather than before as is usually the case, because on the front flap of the hardback dustjacket the publisher explains that it was following the success of 'their now famous series of Bonibooks' in paperback form that they decided to issue some of the titles in cloth [i.e. hardcover]. Only books 'of solid and enduring value' were to be included, and the publisher's opening list of 15 titles included: Against the Grain, D. H. Lawrence's The Lost Girl, Norman Douglas's The South Wind, and James Branch Cabell's The High Girl. Final confirmation of the date is provided by an advert that appeared in 19 September issue of Publishers' Weekly (below left), in which Boni announced, under a title that read 'Bonibooks in Cloth', that 'this month' some of their Bonibooks paperbacks were going to be published in hardback format, bound in vellum and with silver stamped titles. Against the Grain is listed as one of the initial titles, so it is safe to say that the it could not have been published before this date. If any confirmation were needed, the same issue of Publishers' Weekly also includes the book in its list of titles published that month. A similar advertisement appeared the following month in The Nation, (below right), and as can be seen, the hardback series featured illustrated dustjackets and were priced at $1. In terms of text, this 1931 edition is identical to the Bonibooks paperback editions of the year before.
 |
 |
Despite the initial success of the paperback edition of Against the Grain, the company's financial problems persisted, and after 1931 no further printings or editions, either in hardback or paperback, were produced. Ironically, the aggressive pricing of the cloth editions in the Bonibooks series may have contributed to its failure. With such a low retail price booksellers had little incentive to promote the books, effectively refusing to include them in their marketing and promotional schemes, and some resellers, such as Brentano's, refused to stock Boni Books altogether because of what it saw as the company's attempts to undercut prices. The hardbacks failed to repeat the rapid sales of the paperback, and the small, practically non-existent profit margin on these deluxe, one-dollar editions only compounded the firm's financial problems, as did the longer term effects of the Stock Market crash of October 1929. Charles Boni left the company in 1930, and the following year Albert Boni sold the Boni Books inventory to Doubleday Doran. During the 1930s and 40s, Albert Boni would become increasingly interested in photography and developing what would become microfilm technology.
Against the Grain (À Rebours)
New York: Modern Library, 1930.
Size: 4.375 x 6.75 inches
Pages: 352
Bindings: Green, plum or red cloth, with author and title gold stamped on spine
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Modern Library (originally called 'Modern Library of the World's Best Classics') was originally an imprint of the firm Boni & Liveright, founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright. After Boni left the firm a year later due to personal incompatibillity, Liveright somewhat neglected the series in favour of more contemporary authors, and as he was often short of money he eventually sold the Modern Library imprint and its stock of 108 titles to the firm's vice-president Bennett Cerf, and his partner Donald Klopfer. They established The Modern Library in August 1925 as a firm in its own right. The text of the Modern Library edition of Against the Grain, which appeared as No. 183 in the series, was first published in December 1930 at a price of 95c. Interestingly, given the firm's connection to Boni, the text used is not that of the Boni edition, but rather that of the Groves & Michaux edition of 1926. This not only includes the full version of Havelock Ellis's introduction, rather than the abbreviated version used in the Lieber & Lewis, and Boni editions, but also Huysmans' 'Preface Written Twenty Years After', and the unexpurgated text of the novel itself. Although one might have assumed that the Modern Library would have been above board in it's dealings in relation to copyright, that doesn't seem to be the case, as neither Havelock Ellis or the translator is given on the copyright page. It is true that the Groves & Michaux edition itself does not include any information about the translator, but the fact remains that the Modern Library effectively pirated the French publishers' text.
Against the Grain
New York: Illustrated Editions Company, 1931.
Size: 6.625 x 9.625 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Blue, gold stamped titles on spine and decoration on boards
Illustrated dustjacket (blue)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Illustrated dustjacket (red)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The publishing history of the Illustrated Editions Company Inc., to give it its full name, is even more convoluted than that of Albert & Charles Boni. The firm, founded in 1929 by Joseph Meyers, was based at 100 Fifth Avenue in New York. It included the imprint Three Sirens Press, and that of Williams, Belasco & Meyers, both of which were set up by Joseph Meyers and his sister Edna Williams, and which specialised in illustrated editions of classic books, though the latter imprint does not concern us here as it did not publishing any books by Huysmans. Essentially, the Illustrated Editions Co., and the Three Sirens Press published the same books, the only differentiating factor being the binding and papers used.
Meyers has been described, not unfairly, as a "notorious pirate" (see Jay Gertzman’s Bootleggers and Smuthounds), and his firms published editions of books to which they technically did not hold the copyright. This goes some way to explaining how they managed to produce so many books and sell them at reduced prices. For example, the text of Against the Grain that appears in the Illustrated Editions Company series, as well as subsequent Three Sirens Press editions, was not that of the Lieber & Lewis and Boni editions, but rather that of the Groves & Michaux edition, the translator of which remains anonymous, and which was published in Europe in 1926. The Illustrated Editions Company and Three Sirens Press editions of Against the Grain also include an introduction by Havelock Ellis — though they use the full essay that Ellis published in 1898 rather than the heavily condensed version that appeared in the Lieber & Lewis and Boni editions — and Huysmans's 'Preface Written Thirty Years after the Publication of the Novel', the translation of which also appeared in the Groves & Michaux edition. None of these texts or translations are credited to their copyright holder.
Somewhat ironically, given the source of the material included, the Illustrated Editions Company did copyright their edition, registering the book with the Catalogue of Copyright Entries for the year 1931. Its edition, in a larger format than the Boni editions of 1924 and 1931, included an illustrated dustjacket, frontispiece and numerous black and white illustrations by the young New York artist and book illustrator Arthur Zaidenberg (1908-1990).
 |
Against the Grain was the second book to be issued in the Illustrated Editions Company series, and was bound in blue cloth with gilt lettering. The edges of the covers are bevelled. Curiously, the back of the dustjacket lists the author's name as "K.J. Huysmans", a similar mistake to that made by the earlier Groves & Michaux edition — an unconscious giveaway as to the pirated source of their material perhaps — however neither the dustjacket cover nor the title page reproduces this mistake. The paper used in this edition is much thicker and has a distinctly cheaper feel than that used by the Three Sirens Press editions (see below). The book has at least two variant dustjackets, and given that the copyright page is slightly different in the red variant, which uses the two-line credit that appears in all subsequent Illustrated Editions Company editions, as well as the Three Sirens Press editions, it would suggest that this is a later variant. Added to which, it also gives a long list of publications rather than promotional information about the publisher, so it is logical to assume that the red variant was used on a slightly later edition, probably from the early to mid 1930s, despite the 1931 copyright date.
In June 1931, Publishers' Weekly noted that 'a new dollar edition of classics has been started by the Illustrated Editions Co.', and included Huysmans' Against the Grain in its list of new publications. A few months later, at the end of August, an advertisement for the Illustrated Editions Company edition of Against the Grain appeared in the Chicago Daily Tribune, describing the book as 'a novel of perversion and decay and strange new passions' (below left). Whether this wording was the idea of the publishers or the bookseller, this sensationalisation of the book seems to have worked as the 10 October 1931 issue of Publishers' Weekly noted that the bookseller, William Targ, had sold 200 copies as a result (below right).
 |
 |
Despite this, the company must have had a number of unsold copies left, as in 1933 it decided to effectively 'remainder' the book, along with four other titles, using a firm presumably set up for this purpose, the 'New York Bargain Book Company', which is listed as having the same address as the Illustrated Editions Company. A full-page advertisement in the April 1933 edition of Film Fun (below) claimed that the books had a '5$ book price' and were now available at 'our bargain price' of $1.00, despite the fact that they had previously been on sale for two years at the price of one dollar:
 |
Against the Grain
New York: Illustrated Editions Company, [c.1940]
Size: 5.5 x 8.25 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Faux suede spine with red bands and blue cloth boards
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This edition has boards covered in the same textured blue cloth as used on many of the Three Sirens Press editions (see below), but stamped with a stylised drawing of a head on the front board. Despite the reduced size, however, this is not a reset edition and it in fact uses the same size plates as the former editions. Although the page size is trimmed much smaller, the actual text block and illustrations are exactly the same size as the larger Illustrated Editions Company and Three Sirens Press editions of 1931. The only textual difference is the amended address on the title page, the company having moved from 100 Fifth Avenue to 104 Fifth Avenue in 1933, and then to 220 Fourth Avenue, New York (the address given in the page of advertisements at the back of the book), sometime towards the end of the 1930s. As Meyers and Williams ceased publishing their various editions of illustrated classics in 1942, this edition was most probably published in the late 1930s or early 1940s despite the 1931 date on the copyright page.
Against the Grain
New York: Three Sirens Press, [c.1931-36].
Size: 6.25 x 9.625 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Blue or Beige cloth on boards, with stamped titles on beige or brown suede spine.
No dustjacket as issued.
Three Sirens Press: Numbered, limited edition
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Three Sirens Press was an imprint of the Illustrated Editions Company. It published a private limited edition of 1,500 copies of Against the Grain, printed at the presses of J.J. Little and Ives Company. This edition featured a beige suede quarter-bound spine and blue cloth binding, and had a gilt top edge. The paper used is thinner and glossier than that used in the Illustrated Editions Co. editions, giving it a superior and more svelte appearance, the book being .75 inches thick, compared to 1.25 inches of the Illustrated Editions Company edition. There are also variant bindings with a brown suede quarter bound spine and beige cloth binding. The copyright page gives 'I.E. Co., Inc.' in other words, the Illustrated Editions Co as the copyright holder. Although 1931 appears on the copyright page, it is probable that these books were produced a little later, as there is no mention of Three Sirens Press editions in Publishers' Weekly before 1932.
This is presumably the earliest of the Three Sirens Press 'editions' of Against the Grain, as it would seem counter-intuitive to publish a numbered limited edition after a general trade edition. Although no price is given, it is likely that the book would have sold for $1.00, as the vice-president of the Illustrated Editions Co., Jo Meyers, gives that as the price of books published by Three Sirens Press in an article that appeared in Bookbinding Magazine of August 1935. Meyers was keen to point out that, despite the low price point of the books, the company's aim of 'book beautification', i.e. attractive bindings, was a 'sound investment'. Although the Three Sirens Press books were 'printed from the same plates' as those published by the Illustrated Editions Company, the 'books are definitely different in appearance in so far as the bindings are concerned'. To emphasise this, Three Sirens Press editions were often published not in an illustrated dustjacket but in 'a transparent jacket', allowing the bindings to be seen. Later books were 'bound in a vari-coloured pyroxylin fabric for the back and rough-finish cloth for the sides [...]', the pyroxylin being washable. The top edge of the books was gilt with 'genuine gold and the stamping in imitation gold.' There seem to be several alternate bindings in all the different varieties — whether limited edition, 'trade' or 'deluxe' — as can be seen in the photo below, showing a range of bindings for the Three Sirens Press titles:
 |
Another variant factor seems to be the design used on the spine, with at least three variants being found:
 |
 |
 |
Against the Grain
New York: Three Sirens Press, [c.1931-36].
Size: 6.25 x 9.625 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Blue cloth on boards, with stamped titles on beige suede spine.
No dustjacket as issued.
Three Sirens Press: Trade Edition
 |
 |
 |
 |
With its beige suede quarter-bound spine and blue cloth binding, and its gilt top edge, the unlimited trade edition is essentially identical to that of the private limited edition (above), except that it has a different copyright page, bearing the words 'Illustrations Copyright 1931 by Illustrated Editions Co Inc', and a slightly different design on the spine. As it seems unlikely that demand for the limited edition would be such that it sold out in the first year, it is probably the case that this was produced later than the 1931 date on the copyright page. As there also appear to be variant bindings, some being produced with brown bindings and tan cloth, for example, it is highly probable that all copies after the private limited edition were produced during the 1930s. It is possible that the similarity of all the Three Sirens Press editions produced during the 1930s is because the initial print run was sufficiently large that the various editions were bound up using same set of sheets. The consistency of the paper type used in the all the editions would seem to confirm this.
Against the Grain
New York: Three Sirens Press, [c.1933-36].
Size: 6.25 x 9.625 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Fawn/yellow cloth on boards, with stamped titles on orange/green suede spine.
No dustjacket as issued.
Three Sirens Press: 'Deluxe' Edition
 |
 |
 |
 |
Sometime in the early 1930s, Three Sirens Press seem to have begun a series of 'deluxe' editions of some of their existing or new titles. These featured the same dual orange suede/tan cloth bindings and gilt top edge, but were distinguished from other editions by including the title and author name gold stamped on the front cover. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and Goethe's Faust belong to this series, and even have the words 'Deluxe Edition' on the title page. Although the text and illustrations of Against the Grain are identical to the previous two editions, the different binding, the name and title stamped on the front cover, plus the different design on the spine, imply that this was edition formed part of the 'deluxe' series, rather than simply being part of the trade edition. The publisher's advertisements and references to 'deluxe' editions more frequently appear in the 1933-34 period despite the 1931 date on the copyright page, so it is highly probable that the book belongs to this later period.
Against the Grain
New York: Three Sirens Press, [c.1935-36].
Size: 6.375 x 9.625 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Light blue cloth, with stamped titles to spine and front board.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This is a later edition and has a distinctly less deluxe feeling about it, possibly in an attempt to save money. The address on the page of advertisements at the back gives 104 Fifth Avenue, so this probably puts it between 1933 and 1936, after which date many titles were published by Macy Classics, and Cameo Classics, two firms . The cloth feels cheaper and there is no suede spine or gilt top edge. In all other respects the text is identical to the previous two editions. The page of the publisher's advertisments at the end is titled 'Uniform with the volume' and gives a list of titles. The dustjacket is very uncommon, and while it is almost identical in design to those found on copies of Against the Grain issued by the Illustrated Editions Company — and indeed has the 'Illustrated Editions' name on the back — it nevertheless appears to have been printed specially for the Three Sirens Press editions, which have significantly thinner spines, so the two jackets are not interchangeable. The back panel of the dustjacket is also different from either of the two variant jackets of the Illustrated Editions Company editions.
Against the Grain
New York: Hartsdale House [1946].
Size: 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Pages: 339
Binding: Cloth decorated with flower motif
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Hartsdale House edition of Against the Grain is another case where the use of a previous edition's copyright date has given rise to a confusion about when the book was actually produced. In this instance, the copyright page features the name Illustrated Editions and gives a misleading date of 1931. The reason for this is that after the Illustrated Editions Company ceased publishing illustrated classics in around 1942, its titles were rebranded, appearing first through the World Publishing Co, then under the Hartsdale House name from 1946 onwards. The July 1946 issue of The Author and Journalist confirms this, signalling the establishment of a 'new' publishing house devoted to 'illustrated editions of the classics', and even two years later the firm was still considered a newcomer in the field:
 |
 |
Down There
New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1924.
Size: 5.75 x 8.25 inches
Pages: 317
Binding: Black cloth with gilt lettering stamped on spine
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Although it is common knowledge that Boni acquired the rights to their edition of Against the Grain from Lieber & Lewis, when they bought the firm in December 1923, what is not so widely known is that Lieber & Lewis were planning to publish a translation of Huysmans' La`-bas at the time of the acquisition. In a round-up of forthcoming Fall titles for the year 1923, the 21 October issue of New York Times Book Review listed forthcoming translation of Huysmans' Là-bas, at that point entitled Below, and gave Lieber & Lewis as the publisher.
 |
This was clearly a reference to Keene Wallis' translation of Là-bas, which would eventually be published in 1924 by Albert & Charles Boni under the title Down There. The change in the title suggest that the book wasn't quite ready for publication, and indeed was probably a last minute decision, as the dustjacket of another Albert & Charles Boni book published in early 1924, On Strange Altars by Paul Jordan Smith, has a full page advert for Huysmans' novel on the back, but refers to it solely by its French title Là-bas, using the same anglicised spelling as in the New York Times Book Review, and makes no mention of its publication date, or even that it was a forthcoming Boni title.
 |
The first reference to the Boni edition of Down There as a forthcoming title appeared in the 5 January issue of Publishers' Weekly, in a listing that gave no further information aside from its price of $2.50. The book was then advertised in the 8 March 1924 issue of Publishers' Weekly as part of Albert & Charles Boni's 'first season', describing the book as 'one of the classics of modern French literature'. The advert also noted that the book was in a uniform edition with the as yet unannounced Against the Grain. Although it is true the two books were the same size and format, Down There had a striking red illustrated dustjacket, rather than Against the Grain's more sombre text-based jacket. The illustration was signed 'Gropper', referring to William Gropper (1897-1977), a radical New York artist, cartoonist and lithographer who illustrated a number of Boni titles.
 |
On 6 April, the book was featured in a round-up in the Chicago Sunday Tribune, which ominously and presciently described it as the 'most horrible and fascinating book we have ever read ... and if it escapes the censor's ax we shall be much surprised'. Less than two weeks later, in its 19 April 1924 issue, Publishers' Weekly ran a news item under a headline reading 'Huysmans Suppressed in New York', which described how the Bonis had agreed to withdraw the book from sale after a complaint by the Society for the Suppression of Vice. It's not clear how reliable some of the details in the article are, or who provided the information, as it states that 'there were three dozen copies left at the time of an edition of 2500'. It is highly unlikely that Huysmans' novel, however controversial or salacious it might have appeared to prospective readers, would have sold so many copies in such a short space of time, and certainly the scarcity of copies that turn up in the secondhand market today would seem to imply that nowhere near that many copies were sold. Nevertheless, the suppression must have been a considerable financial blow to the Bonis, and seems to have had a knock-on effect on their edition of Against the Grain (see above), the publication of which seemed to be a very low-key affair and was possibly even delayed, so as to avoid further attention from the censors.
 |
 |
Down There
Paris: Privately Printed for Subscriber, 1928.
Size: 5.75 x 8.5 inches
Pages: 287
Binding: Patterned black cloth with illustrated leatherette, gilt stamped spine
 |
 |
 |
 |
This edition of Down There (La Bas) is something of a curio, and there is very little information about it. The text is identical to the Keene Wallis translation published by Boni in 1924, and on the copyright page it gives A & C Boni as the copyright holder, but whether this edition was officially sanctioned or not, and whether it was actually produced in Paris as stated on the title page, is debateable. It is possible that after the suppression of the US Boni edition in 1924, Boni produced an edition in Paris to obviate the censors, but it is equally possible that it is a pirated edition. The fact that the book uses the term 'for subscriber' rather than 'for subscribers', which was usually the case when these sorts of books were produced, might indicate that it was produced by someone who first language wasn't English. Either way, the text has been completely reset and dispenses with the illustrated chapter headings and drop caps. Otherwise, it is a fairly delux production, featuring a highly ornamental, gilt leatherette spine, depicting the fires of hell and a descending ladder, gilt patterned boards and a red top edge. There is no indication about who designed the spine, though the fire has a certain resemblance to that depicted on the illustrated cover of the 1924 Boni edition, which was designed by William Gropper, and again this might hint at a possible official input from Boni.
 |
An advertisement for the book appeared in the 13 and 27 October 1928 issues of Publishers' Weekly, in which 'Julian Bookshop' was offering to sell a limited number of copies of the book 'privately issued in Paris' at a price of $5. However, information about Julian Bookshop is as elusive as who the publisher of the 'Privately Printed for Subscriber' edition actually was.
This anonymous and anomalous edition exists in three variants: that with the leatherette spine (above), a similar version but with a plain black cloth for boards and the illustrated spine, and one bound in green cloth spin with a simple paper label with the title and author name stuck on the spine. It is possible this latter is a production copy. The paper used for all three versions is very similar, so it would seem likely that these are variant bindings, as opposed to different editions or printings.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Là-Bas
New York: Black Archer Press, 1935.
Size: 5.75 x 8.25 inches
Pages: 328
Binding: Black cloth with gilt lettering stamped on spine
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
According to Publishers' Weekly the Black Archer Press was set up in September 1930 (below left), shortly after the Wall Street Crash by the bookseller William Targ in Chicago. In his book of memoirs, Indecent Pleasures (1975), Targ recounted how the Press 'issued an occasional limited edition' and also some of his own 'compilations dealing with rare books'. Targ was very hands-on with the books produced, though the financial rewards did always march his committment: as Targ himself put it, he 'designed books, fantasised about fame and fortune as a publisher, and remained insolvent'. This seemingly cavalier attitude to profitability perhaps accounts for the extravagant nature of the Black Archer Press' edition of La-Bas, which features a frontispiece by John Groth, a suitably infernal dustjacket design by William Mazur, and a heavily gilded spine. Targ was not only instrumental in arranging the publication of the book and selling it in his shop, he also oversaw its typography.
 |
 |
The book was produced in a limited edition of 850 copies, nominally 'for subscribers', by arrangement with Albert & Charles Boni, using its copyrighted translation by Keene Wallis. The book was advertised in the 29 June 1935 issue of Publishers' Weekly (above right), and was scheduled for publication on 10 July. The text of the book has been completely reset, and includes a short prefatory note that is unsigned but presumably written by Targ himself, as well as an amusing note stating: 'Sale of this book is restricted to members of the Clergy, members of the learned professions and serious adult students of psychology, religion and occultism.'
Down There: A Study in Satanism
New York: University Books, 1958.
Size: 5 x 8 inches
Pages: 317
Binding: Red cloth, titles stamped in gold on spine against black bands
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Despite its somewhat generic name, University Books was a publishing house that from the mid 1950s onwards, began specialising in the occult. Its 'Library of the Mystic Arts' series for example, showcased in its 1960 catalogue, listed the firm's specialities as: 'psychical research', 'symbolism', 'kabbalah', 'occult', 'yoga', 'magic', 'parapsychology', 'new religions', 'mysticism', 'tarot', and 'ancient civilisations'. There are a number of books published prior to this date by a firm of the same name, but as many of them are not directly connected to the area of mysticism, it is difficult to know if this is just a coincidence of names or the older firm was taken in a new, occult-oriented direction during the 1950s.
Either way, Huysmans' Down There was among the first titles to be issued by University Press Inc. in its new guise as a publisher of books with a mystical or occult tendency. The translation used in this 1958 edition is again based on the 1924 Albert & Charles Boni edition — though this time it appears with the addition of the subtitle, 'A Study in Satanism'. The translation is credited to Keene Wallis on the title page, but neither Wallis nor the original publisher, Boni, are mentioned on the copyright page, or indeed elsewhere in the book. This is even more curious given that, unlike the Black Archer Press edition which was entirely reset, this edition is essentially photo offset from the 1924 book: it features the same ornamented chapter headings and exactly the same pagination, even the title page is photo offset from the original, with the exception of Robert Baldick's name and the publisher's name and logo. However, a publisher's note states that some infelicities and errors contained in the 1924 edition have been corrected by Lucy Miller, if so these must have been quite few in number as the two texts appear identical, and any changes would have to be incorporated so as not to affect the pagination of the rest of the book. While the 1924 edition did not contain any introduction or preface, the University Press edition, priced at $5.00, includes an introduction by Robert Baldick, who had not only written the definitive biography of Huysmans a few years previously, but would go on to translate A rébours the following year under a more iconic, if less literally accurate, title of Against Nature.
APPENDIX
Against the Grain
Toronto: Fireside Publications Limited, [1941].
Size: 5 x 8 inches
Pages: 130
Binding: Paperback
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Although this edition is something of an anomaly, it deserves to be noted here simply because it reproduces a shortened, reset version of the translation used in the Boni edition. Although it includes the introduction by Havelock Ellis, a number of passages have been cut and Chapter IV left out entirely. Not a huge amount of information about Fireside Publications Limited is readily available, but it seems that they were active during the 1946 to 1948 period. They specialised in material with an erotic or sensational component, and, like many of the publishers whose work they borrowed, they weren't overly scrupulous about copyright. Interestingly, aside from Against the Grain, Fireside also published condensed versions of other Illustrated Editions Company editions, such as Hudson, Madame Bovary, Baron Munchausen etc.
It is difficult to date this edition of Against the Grain precisely — the World Catalogue has only one reference to it — but as it includes advertisements for books from the mid 1940s, it most likely dates from this period. An advertisement for the book appeared in Women Under Polygamy another Fireside edition pirated from the 1914 first edition published by Holden & Hardingham:
 |
The most attractive feature of this edition is the illustrated cover, which seems to have been done by the artist repsonsible for many of the distinctive covers of Fireside editions, Leo Orenstein (1919-2009). Orenstein — who used the pseudonym 'Leonard Orr' for his work with Fireside — is better known as a television director and producer, indeed, his Wikipedia entry doesn't mention his artistic work at all. However, in the biographical blurb on the back cover of his first novel, which was issued in 1972 and featured a cover illustration by Orenstein himself, it mentions the fact that 'as a young man, he worked as a magazine illustrator'. Although this edition of Against the Grain is 'thrillingly' illustrated — also presumably by Orenstein — one would be hard pushed to relate the illustrations to the text. Instead they are more generic line drawings, usually of scantily dressed women in vaguely sensuous or erotic poses.